The Ugandan army says it has been given permission by the Democratic Republic of Congo to continue operations there against the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The mandate of the Ugandan army in the DRC had been due to expire this week, but a Ugandan army spokesman said this had now been extended.

A Congolese minister said the extension would last until the end of this month.

Last week a top UN official said the offensive against the Ugandan rebel LRA had been “catastrophic” for civilians.

But he said the operation against the LRA should continue.

The LRA has increased attacks, killing at least 900 people, according to the aid agency MSF, since forces from Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo began the offensive in December.

Tens of thousands of people around the north-eastern Congolese town of Doruma have fled their homes because of the LRA attacks.

“How is freedom measured, in individuals as in nations? By the resistance which has to be overcome, by the effort it costs to stay aloft. One would have to seek the highest type of free man where the greatest resistance is constantly being overcome: five steps from tyranny, near the threshold of the danger of servitude.”